Make New York Post a Preferred Source The Post’s Brian Lewis breaks down the Nets’ top storylines heading into training camp.
Brooklyn’s starting five is set before camp even starts, while Mo Wagner, Keon Ellis and a backup point guard all have to play. But the forward fight between Noah Clowney, Josh Minott, Danny Wolf and Joshua Jefferson will be interesting.
Veteran Michael Porter Jr. is on an expiring $40.8 million deal and has been extension-eligible. His agent Mark Bartelstein said in July he planned to talk with GM Sean Marks “in the days ahead.” Since then? Crickets. Will the Nets extend him? Trade him? Do the former now and the latter next summer? No story will be more watched.
Spending camp and preseason crafting an attack around Porter and Julius Randle. The Nets were last in Offensive Rating, and Randle pounds the rock. But Porter moves, cuts and gets off the ball quickly. They can work well, now coach Jordi Fernández has to turn that theory into practice.
Mikel Brown Jr. comes into camp as the Nets’ highest-drafted player in 16 years, a rare combination of passing, deep range and downhill juice. The task is getting him to pack on pounds, rein in his risk-taking and learn to run an NBA team.
It’s Randle. Brown might become the Nets’ most important player someday, but Randle is their best today. Their only All-Star, he’s averaged 21.7 points and 8.9 boards over the past eight years. He’s a floor-raiser and their only proven on-ball scorer.
Nic Claxton is gone after seven years in Brooklyn, along with his rim protection and vertical lob threat. Brooklyn has no replacement for either, and must find a No. 3 center behind Wagner and starter Day’Ron Sharpe. Is it Wolf, Grant Nelson, Chaney Johnson or even Randle in case of emergency?
Egor Dëmin. Granted, Sharpe’s season-ending thumb operation was surgical, while Dëmin’s plantar fasciitis procedure was non-surgical. But the latter can become chronic, considering the lottery pick’s importance, his health will be scrutinized.
Fernandez ends up having to make some tough calls between young and old, development and victory. Without their pick or incentive to tank, the Nets will aim to win. Does Fernandez give minutes to aging vets like, say, Terance Mann? Or force-feed sophomores Ben Saraf and Drake Powell, even if they’re struggling?
